A typical passenger airbag deployment assembly comprises an airbag module (including inflator, inflatable cushion and reaction canister) and a deployment door which interfaces with the module and with a vehicle surface facing toward a seated occupant's position, for example such vehicle surface may be the vehicle instrument panel. To provide a good matching fit and finish the deployment door usually is made of a plastic material similar to the instrument panel or other adjacent surface area in which the deployment door is mounted.
During a deployment, the door is designed either to detach and pivot or swing out of the way or to split at the surface and swing open for allowing an inflatable cushion (often called an "airbag") to pass through the resulting opening. Since deployment forces are very high, the attachment system between the airbag module and the deployment door must be very reliable. Generally attachment systems for passenger airbag modules which perform this function of attaching a module to a deployment door require an array of multiple fasteners to insure structural performance. Consequently, completion of installation in a vehicle of such prior attachment systems with their array of multiple fasteners has been time-consuming and difficult.
Accordingly, it is among the objects of the present invention to provide an attachment system for securely attaching an airbag module to a molded plastic deployment door which overcomes or substantially reduces disadvantages of prior attachment systems and eliminates the need for an array of multiple fasteners.